1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that performs image formation by conveying paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, paper taken out from a paper feed tray is conveyed by a conveying unit and thus moves inside of the image forming apparatus to pass through an image forming unit, a fixing unit, and other units. Thus, image formation is performed on the surface of the paper. Because of this structure, paper may be jammed in the middle of the conveying path through which the paper is conveyed to the image forming unit and the fixing unit. In other words, a paper jam (jam) may occur.
Typically, for removing this paper jam, paper jammed in the middle of the conveying path is removed by opening the outer cover. However, paper may be jammed in the position where the paper cannot be immediately removed. Conveying rollers including knobs are provided to deal with such a situation. The conveying rollers are rotated with the knobs and move the paper to the position where the paper can be removed, where the paper is eventually removed.
For saving time and effort of rotating the conveying rollers with the knobs, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-72978 discloses a method of enabling a conveying roller to be driven in conjunction with the closing and opening of an outer cover. In this method, when a jam occurs, the jam is removed by opening the outer cover and pulling out paper moved to a position where the paper can be removed by the conveying rollers driven in conjunction with the opening action of the outer cover.
Although paper moves to the position where the paper can be removed by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-72978, users have to apply strong force to pull out the paper because the paper is nipped between the conveying rollers. Therefore, the method has such disadvantages that paper may be torn while being pulled out.